Multiple Tooth-Rowed Parareptile From the Early Permian of Oklahoma

Dylan C T Rowe,Robert R Reisz,Joseph J Bevitt,Diane M Scott

doi:10.3389/feart.2021.709497

Abstract

The Dolese Limestone Quarry near Richards Spur, Oklahoma includes an elaborate system of caves which have been infilled with early Permian fossil rich sediments. In operation for more than a century, the quarry yielded vast numbers of disarticulated skeletal elements of the most diverse assemblage of fully terrestrial tetrapods from the Paleozoic. Excavations carried out in this century are distinct in producing large numbers of articulated and semiarticulated skeletons, including numerous new taxa. Dolese is therefore unique among early Permian localities in being home to a diverse assemblage of small parareptiles, including two species ofDelorhynchus. Here we describe a new species of acleistorhinid, characterized by the presence of multiple tooth rows on the dentary, that can be identified with confidence as a third new species ofDelorhynchus. The multiple tooth rowed condition is deemed not to be a pathological condition, and appears to have formed in the same manner as in the captorhinid eureptileCaptorhinus agutithrough uneven growth of the tooth-bearing element.

Highlights

The Richards Spur locality in Oklahoma, known as the Dolese Brothers limestone quarry, is a highly fossiliferous site containing an unparalleled variety of early Permian tetrapods (Modesto, 1999; MacDougall and Reisz, 2012; MacDougall et al, 2016)
It must be noted that comparison with D. priscus is not possible, given that a single maxilla was assigned as the holotype of D. priscus and no maxilla has been preserved with the holotype of D. multidentatus (Fox, 1962)
The known skull and mandibular elements are similar to those known in D. cifelli, but only a single row of dentary teeth are present in that species (Modesto et al, 2009; Reisz et al, 2014; Haridy et al, 2018)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The Richards Spur locality in Oklahoma, known as the Dolese Brothers limestone quarry, is a highly fossiliferous site containing an unparalleled variety of early Permian tetrapods (Modesto, 1999; MacDougall and Reisz, 2012; MacDougall et al, 2016). Parareptilia comprises one of the major amniote clades of the Permian, possessing a wide variety of distinct morphologies and distributed globally (Debraga and Reisz, 1996; MacDougall et al, 2019). Many parareptiles found within Richards Spur belonged to the small-bodied Acleistorhinidae (Vaughn, 1958; Fox, 1962; Daly, 1969; Modesto, 1999; Tsuji et al, 2012; Reisz et al, 2014; MacDougall et al, 2016). In contrast to other referred specimens of Delorhynchus, a double row of dentary teeth is present The addition of this novel taxon further contributes to the considerable parareptile diversity present at Richards Spur, as well as a novel occurrence of multiple tooth rows within the Parareptilia. Etymology—Specific epithet refers to the diagnostic feature of this taxon

METHODS

DISCUSSION

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT